Response of Indigenous Rhizobia to the Inoculation of Soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merrill] Varieties Cultivated under Controlled Conditions in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is an important crop known to improve population nutritional status and increase soil fertility and its productivity through biological nitrogen fixation. In Côte d’Ivoire, the introduced Bradyrhizobium japonicum used as inoculum had slight compatibility to several soybean varieties compromising their vulgarization. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the infectiveness and the effectiveness of indigenous rhizobial isolates on three soybean varieties (Canarana, Doko and Piramana) cultivated in Côte d’Ivoire. The experiment was conducted with potted plant filled with sterilized sand and was statistically laid in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with sixteen (16) natives rhizobia, one (01) reference strain and uninoculated control (with or without nitrogen) with three replications. The results showed that inoculation significantly improved nodule number, nodule dry weight, plant height and total dry matter of soybean over the ...